Record Corn Crop Predicted by Ag Dept.

Published 7:00 pm, Wednesday, February 19, 2003

If planting goes well and the weather is good, farmers could see a record corn crop this year, meaning lower prices, the Agriculture Department's chief economist said Thursday.

Keith Collins said corn production is expected to be 10.3 billion bushels this year, compared with the 9 billion bushels grown last year. A record corn crop of 10.1 billion bushels was grown in 1994.

Collins also predicted the wheat crop will be 2.07 billion bushels, an increase from the 1.95 billion grown last year. Soybean production is projected at 2.82 billion bushels, compared to last year's 2.75 billion bushels.

Farmers saw yields drop last year because of drought and flooding, and the smaller supply pushed up prices.

But it may be a different story this year.

Farmers probably will see crop prices drop because "a rebound in yields and strong competition from traditional and newer competitors will likely cause a pull back in prices," Collins said at a conference on the future of agriculture.

But the increase in corn, soybean and wheat production really will not affect consumer prices, said Collins, noting that much of the corn grown in the United States is fed to livestock.

The government is helping farmers trying to recover from last year's drought, as well as those whose crops were struck by floods. Last week, Congress approved $3.1 billion in farm aid.

However, some members of Congress have said the need for government aid could have been avoided if more farmers had sought federal crop insurance coverage, and if the insurance program were more effective.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman agrees that the program needs to be re-evaluated. She said Thursday that officials at the USDA's Risk Management Agency will review problems with the insurance program and look for solutions within the agency and through Congress.

The agency "needs to identify the underserved producers," she said. "We also know there are concerns with coverage in regions that are facing multiyear droughts."

In other issues, Veneman said her office, along with the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, is working on new regulations for so-called pharmaceutical crops, those genetically modified to grow medicine.

"We want to make sure the science does not outrun our regulatory system," Veneman said.

She declined to specify what kinds of restrictions the government is considering but said officials want to protect food crops from becoming contaminated with pharmaceutical crops.

A mishap occurred last year when ProdiGene Inc., a Texas biotech company failed to completely remove experimental corn, genetically designed to produce a protein for a pig vaccine, from a Nebraska field. Some of the leftover corn mixed with soybeans headed for market, but the government blocked it from entering the food supply.